As a study reveals that men prefer electric shocks to time alone, Gareth
May asks whether the male world has given up on 'me' time

Electric shocks. They’re not the most pleasant things on Earth are they? And yet, according to a recent study conducted in the US, the electric shock is preferable to the daydream.

Researchers found that the majority of men would rather zap themselves with a bolt of electricity than spend time on their own in a room without any human or technological interaction. While two thirds of men sought the shock therapy when left alone in a room, only a quarter of females did the same.

The findings are the result of a series of studies conducted at the University of Virginia that explored how people of various ages and backgrounds deal with ‘alone time’.

The first test was simple enough. Subjects were asked to sit in an empty room with nothing but their thoughts to entertain themselves for six to fifteen minutes. Once the time was over, they answered a questionnaire asking them how hard they found it to concentrate on their thoughts and whether or not they enjoyed the experience. The majority of the test subjects answered that they found concentration hard and that they did not enjoy the time. However, when they were asked to do the same again but with some method of interaction available to them (i.e. access to their Smartphone), most of the subjects said they did enjoy the time.

“Men don't have a harder time thinking than women do. In almost all of our studies, we find no difference between men and women,” Erin Westgate, one of the study's researchers told me. “However, the way they react to that difficulty appears quite different.”

The researches conducted a further study to find out if people would rather do something painful and unpleasant than be alone with their own thoughts for 15 minutes. Subjects were asked to sit in an empty room, this time with the option of pushing a button that would administer a mild electric shock. The findings conclusively revealed that men chose the shocks over alone time, with one subject pressing the button 190 times in 15 minutes.

Why the gender gap? Westgate cites several reasons. “Women appear to react to boredom by trying harder, even if they don't succeed at it. When men find it hard, they may give up and reach for the button to shock themselves instead. There is [also] some research that women are just "better" psychology study participants, in that they try harder and follow directions better.”

The researchers have admitted that they didn’t expect to find such a huge discrepancy between men and women subjects and that analysis is ongoing. But the big question is: why is it so hard for men to be alone with their thoughts?

“Men are higher in sensation-seeking,” Westgate says. “They seek out rollercoasters and other thrilling activities more than women, so the shock could have been more appealing to them.”

Clinical Psychologist, Dr Roger Kingerlee agrees. “Men tend to show greater impulsiveness than women. There is experimental evidence that men tend to take more risks when under stress.”

Kingerlee also says that difficulty being alone may stem from a typical male upbringing. “There is some reason to think that, compared to women, men spend less time on average reflecting about themselves and their lives, and their relationships. Some research suggests that the roots of such psychological differences may begin in infancy and childhood, with boys and girls being treated differently, and perhaps less sensitively in some ways, by their caregivers.”

He goes on to suggest that this difference “in levels of psychological reflection” between boys and girls can benefit the adult man, most notably in protection against depression, since men tend to over-think or 'ruminate' less, and seem to be less prone to depression than women.

However, Kingerlee does warn that “a relative lack of psychological or emotional skill may leave men more vulnerable at times of great stress or crisis. At these times, carefully and deliberately thinking through the available options can be helpful for men.”

“Many mental health problems are started and maintained by certain thinking styles – anxiety is always linked with worry and depression is linked with rumination. Do too much of these, in the wrong way and you'll have a problem. However, by the very definition of evolution, these thinking styles are meant to be helpful or we wouldn't do it. If I worry I can potentially avoid dangers in the future or if I ruminate and think over the past, I can learn from my mistakes, so don't do enough and you could also have problems.”

Sullivan points to the fact that men have fewer social networks (decreasing even further after 30) and are at more risk of isolation than women as “risk factor[s] for mental health”.

Harnessing the skill to spend time alone with one’s thoughts could go some way to help men overcome mental health issues or even stop them from taking root in the first place. In the last 30 years, suicide rates have been consistently three to four times higher among men than for women.

“People often pay little attention to what happens in their minds and being aware of how we are thinking can offer the chance to worry and ruminate less. It's a balance between using thinking for it's benefits whilst also having space and time away from thoughts.”